David Silva scores two, Manchester City beats Stoke City

March 12 (UPI) — David Silva scored both goals for Manchester City Monday in a 2-0 win against Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England.

Silva’s first score came in the 10th minute. The Spanish midfielder sprinted down the middle of the pitch as Gabriel Jesus found Raheem Sterling dashing to the right corner. Sterling crossed the ball on his first touch, leading Silva into the box. Silva flicked the ball into the left side of the goal with his left boot, beating Stoke keeper Jack Butland.

The Premier League leaders took the 1-0 edge into halftime, but it didn’t take Silva long to add to his tally.

Silva’s next goal came just five minutes after the halftime whistle. Fernandinho found Silva about 40 yards away from the goal with a short pass. Silva then snapped a pass into Jesus. The Brazilian tapped the ball around defender Kurt Zouma and onto the boot of a sprinting Silva, who finished with a left footed shot around a pursuing Butland.

“We are very close now — 81 is a lot of points, we’ve lost just one game and we made a solid performance here tonight,” City manager Pep Guardiola told ManCity.com.

“It is always so complicated to win here, but we didn’t concede, and we didn’t allow Stoke any clear chances.”

“I think this was better than the win over Arsenal because we were solid throughout and controlled the game. It was a little tight in the first half but a good performance overall.”

City faces Everton at 12:30 p.m. on March 31 at Goodison Park in Liverpool, England.

Guardiola said City will travel to Abu Dhabi to train in different conditions before its next match.